He who transmutes must have his own topic!

Bob is played by Stephen Tobolowsky, who you might also know from "Deadwood", "CSI: Miami", or any number of other "Hey, It's That Guy" type appearances (apparently going ALL the way back to an appearance on "The Rockford Files" as "Hotel Clerk").

Oh, and he was "Captain of the Guard" in "Spaceballs" and apparently was Buffy Summers' Principal in the unaired pilot for "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer".

Bob seems kind of cool as a character. He doesn't seem like he should be menacing, but he is.

LMAO... thank you for this thread title, it's what keeps going through my head when his character comes up.

"Ask for the Midas Touch".

I liked the reveal that both Mohinder and Matt recognized two of the original twelve. (Take that Lost!) And that the transmuter was one of the originals.

It makes me wonder how limited his powers are. Can he just turn silverware into gold or is he the same as Element Lad who can change any element into any other element?

I'd actually prefer if his powers WERE that limited, oh comic book geek who can call up references to a million different comic book characters!!! {joking--I'm hardly geek-free myself}

Here's why.

I want the "message" of this character to be that true power doesn't always have to do with offensive capability. Bob is powerful in more subtle ways. He can buy anyone. Or if he can't buy them, he can buy someone to "take care of them". He's ultimately powerful without any actual need to be aggressive himself. It would be a GENIUS character note if they stick with it.

I kind of love his power, because really who wouldn't like to make things gold? The only way it would be more awesome is if he could make things turn into diamonds.

Turning coal into diamonds or aluminum siding into sapphires should be 'easier' than turning chrome into gold.

That's exactly what I love about this character. I think it's great that we are gradually getting to know Bob better and seeing a little bit more cause for alarm each time. It's a nice way to put the slow pace to use.

I agree, MoreRidonkulous. It's a simple power, but it can do so much.

Can Bob turn a living creature to metal? If so, he's definitely got an offensive power I would not want to run up against.

But see, my preference is that he DOESN'T have such. It takes away the subtly of the character and the subtly of his menace. I like the idea that this harmless looking man, who can't even hurt anyone himself (I hope) might be this totally evil manipulative bastard who uses the power he DOES have as ruthlessly as possible.

I mean I think the idea of unlimited money really could corrupt someone that completely.

There has to be a reason that his last name is unrevealed. Whose dad is he?

Hmm.

Could he be Niki's dad? What supposedly was the fate of her Dad again? I can't even remember.

Or he could be nobody's Dad.

Her dad was a violent drunk. I suppose he could be her real dad, but I really hope not. West's dad? Even worse. One of the dead folks like Zane, Charlie's or Ted's dad? Nah, I'd rather the alchemist was nobody's dad.

Bob is very hands-on, for a Company head. He personally goes to Haiti to fetch Mohinder, then he starts helping him with lab work instead of just hiring a babysitter to supervise. But then again, it could just be a testament on how much more important Mohinder is in the eyes of the Company now than four months earlier.


Niki's dad was threatened by Jessica to get the hell outta dodge in Six Months Ago. He was also a different actor.

I also prefer him as Nobody's dad, so that we don't discover that he's Sylar's pappy or something and I don't gag at how ridiculous it all is.

Or a testament to how his partners and lackies keep on deserting him or dying. Poor guy seems to be the only one left of the Dirty dozen that we know is still seeing this thing through.

And word on him not being to powerful. The last thing I want to see is him turning/freezing Moe or the Haitian in carbonite for their betrayl.

I don't think he's Sylar's dad. Didn't he mention something about Sylar's death to Mohinder and told him about the whole 'we need to control these people'? I don't see any indication that he was being a cold father or something...

If he's related to West, however... Nah. I don't think so. I hope he's nobody's father. Too much family relation going on in this show, I don't want it turns into Lost where everyone knows everyone.

I'm sure he could turn your clothing to solid gold and weigh you down or something. However, I hope he can't turn an actual person to gold. That'd be ridiculous.

I think the most limited form of transmutation (other than one SPECIFIC metal to gold--which is a bit too limited for him to have conveniently found the right metal to demonstrate this to Mohinder) would be that it has to be SOME kind of metal, any kind, and he can only turn it to gold.

That would be where I'd "put" his power if I was writing this role for maximum effect.

Not that its likely to come up. I mean, either we will see him use his power otherwise, or not. If not, we will never really know, nor care I suppose.

I suppose it wouldn't be too ridiculously powerful if he could turn any metal to any metal.

If he can deal with other elements, the power gets offensive by its very nature. I mean if you can turn carbon to something else, you can basically turn any living being to powder, for example. Heck, even being able to transform only metals has a potential dangerous offensive edge, since human blood has so much iron in it. Imagine turning all the iron in someone's blood to aluminum. Of course the way to limit that would be perhaps Bob can only transmute things with direct hands-on-contact, so he'd have to slice someone's vein open and have a really active bleed to hurt 'em that way.

Again, it's much better storywise, IMO, if he can do less.

I'd prefer he has the ability to turn any metal into any metal, just because it's less limited but also not extremely powerful. However-- he'd need hands-on contact or he'd might try. Which wouldn't be good, obviously. Even though it would be neat.

See, while I DON'T want him to be physical for the most part, I suppose somewhere WAY into this story arc, I could see him having someone tied to a chair, where he pulls out a knife, cuts someone a bleeder, and then tortures them by turning SOME of their blood. I wonder exactly how much it would take?

Ah. Maybe not. I mean the knife cut might hurt more than the transmutation, and if someone's blood suddenly couldn't carry oxygen I'd see them more as falling unconscious than being in pain. On reflection, I think the blood-turning thing would only work to kill someone, not torture them. Unless you use a LOT of arbitrary "TV logic" and just pretend it hurts.

Really, it probably makes much more sense for Bob simply to be able to pay anyone to do anything. Pay people to torture, if you can buy the torture-ee him or herself...

His power makes me drool. Only could be better if he could turn things into white gold or platinum.

I'm sure he is the father of someone. Everyone else who is part of the OWL is a parent to someone. I actually love the idea of him being Gabriel's father.

I always thought it was deeply implied that Mr. Gray was dead. That doesn't mean Bob isn't Mr. Gray, though...

Speaking of which, isn't it a sure bet that he at least can't turn stuff into a particular type of blood, or else he'd be long since finished with Mohinder by now? "Yeah, thanks for the drop of blood, there, guy; I've got a whole barrel of seawater just waiting to get stirred with the old alchemy stick. I mean, I would've changed all those gallons of the stuff into premium gasoline, but, well, I guess I'll just save that for the ordinary barrel of seawater right next to it. No, wait; didn't I want to make that one into champagne? Okay, give me a minute to work out the details, here; the point is, I can mass-produce your blood by the quart."

Whatever else he can do, he can't do that.

I keep going back to when GG aka My name is Sylar said he always felt like his real family would come and take him away. And it sounded like when Claire said she wondered if her family lived in a big apartment in NYC.... which was kinda true. But, since they are holding into Bob's last name for a little while, I really do wonder if he's related to someone. I can't even guess who. I mean I could, I'm just not the kind of person to guess with out some proof.

One metal to another metal TO ME is pretty strong. To change the molecular configuration of one substance to another substance within the same element TO ME makes sense.

To try to recreate the extremely complex chemistry of something living, too far FOR ME.

To nitpick, it's always bugged me when they have Magneto able to effect haemoglobin since it has an iron ion involved in the molecular structure. Non-metallic iron based compounds aren't magnetic.

That's a nitpick of Marvel comics, not the suggestion that Bob might somehow be able to change the iron in someone's blood, under certain conditions (hopefully very limited ones).

And it's my memory that iron is chemically considered a metallic element no matter what its form. Maybe its not magnetic in one form, but its still classified as a "transition metal", isn't it? Mind you, I barely passed Chemistry decades ago, so I may be misremembering a lot.

(Nitpick) Carbon isn't a metal. It's a nonmetal.

Perhaps his power relates to radioactive decay? In other words, changing the actual atoms of a metal from speeding up the decay process? Or reversing the decay process?
Overtime, metal atoms lose their protons (but it happens REALLY slowly), as the protons are emitted through alpha/gamma/beta rays or whatnot. And each time an atom loses a proton, it becomes another on the periodic table.

This kind of stuff IS kind of dangerous. If he could turn metals into any other kind of metal out there, he might be able to turn things into dangerous substances that can blow up...names of metals I don't feel like typing out, but they're up there on the periodic table.

And yeah, if he's going around turning people's insides into gold, or aluminum, I have a feeling a lot of people are going to drop dead. Our bodies host a bunch of minerals/metals in generally strict concentrations. So we could, you know, live.

I don't want this guy to become a papa of another hero but unfortunately, I feel like it's inevitable. Heroes creators, please prove me wrong.

Did I say it was a metal? It was specifically being talked about in a part where I speculated about him being able to manipulate ANY element (as indicted by the sentence "If he can deal with other elements"). Something I didn't like, in part because that ability would be too powerful. The "changing carbon" thing was an example of why it was too powerful, which is why I then concluded that it would be better if all Bob could affect would be metals (and hopefully only that by direct contact).

If Bob could affect nonliving matter, could he turn the air molecules around you to metal? That would almost be a creepier death than straight-up petrification. You could still be alive, but suffocating in a shell of gold.

There would be the problem of density. In a solid the atoms are packed together (in a metal the electrons freely flow between the lattice of nuclei-that's what makes metals conductors) while in air the molecules are dispersed. If he changed the atoms of oxygen into gold you would end up with a very fine dust rather than a thick shell.

Now if he could change the nitrogen and oxygen in the air to nitrous oxide and the carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide that would be a nasty killing power.

Okay, I can't stop laughing about Monica's description of him. "You're like my own personal Oprah." Damn if that shouldn't be the title for this thread.

I just don't know what to think about him. Evil... probably, most likely. And yet he plays benign and sincere and nice so well at times. His little speech to Mohinder apologizing for overstepping seemed like it could be a giant con and yet he also seemed incredibly genuine with Monica at the end as he was fulfilling his Oprah-like duties of gifting her with the iPod of powers.

And yet with the ending note to Peter from Adam Monroe and the jump into the future seeing the plague ravaged city/world... I think it's fairly clear his Company is the source of a whole lot of death. I think the question becomes exactly what Bob's real motivations are. Will the virus be a tragic mistake or a willful act of a dangerous man?

I propose a new name for this thread:

Bob: Your Own Personal Oprah

Anyone else catch that tonight?

Yeah, when I think of Bob, Oprah is the first person that springs to mind,

And pssh, Bob is shiifffttyy (imagine that said in the coroner's drawl from Pushing Daisies.) The nicer he became to Mohinder and Monica, the less I trusted him. I was half expecting that (Look! It's an) iPod to spring open and shoot needles into the poor girl.

I know exactly what you mean. The more friendly and decent he seemed the more I kept screaming at Mohinder to take his daughter and run for the freakin' hills.

Nooooo, Bill Murray movie titles FTW!

Stephen Toblowsky rocks. I said this on the episode thread, but I really found myself almost wanting to believe Bob. It makes the game he's playing with Mohinder that much more interesting - I might actually buy it if Mohinder got sucked into the Company, and not just on "he's a gullible dumbass" grounds.

Me too. Whenever he says something like "Some abilities need to be stopped." I yell "liar, you just want all the power for yourself."

I think so as well. Personally, I find Bob to be perhaps the scariest person on Heroes right now---or ever. Sylar, Nightmare Man, exploding people, Elder-Killer(s), Sociopathic Elle... but it's Mr. Alchemy with his subtle creepiness and pandemic-starting tendencies who really freaks me out.



Seconded. You know, Oprah kind of creeps me out, too, incidentally.

Bob: way too shady to be trusted.

With the Peter-Adam Monroe connection, I'm thinking that Bob may be Elle's father.

Oh snap. It must be done.

Bob is playing Mohinder like Micah plays the piano. I don't trust a single word out of his mouth, nor do I trust that he returned Monica safely to New Orleans. I'll bet anything there's either a tracking device or some sort of subliminal message in that iPod he gave her. Although, creepy as he is, I still keep thinking of him as Ned from Groundhog Day. When she said "Who are you?" I totally imagined him replying "Ned! RYERSON! Needlenose Ned, Ned the Head! BING!"

Also, I third [fourth?] the vote to rename the thread "Your Own Personal Oprah". Although I can't read that phrase without hearing it sung like Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus". Which is even creepier.

I don't want to come off as defensive, because nobody owns a topic, but I still kind of like "What About Bob?" as a title. It seems timeless. Well, as timeless as any reference to any 1991 movie can be.

I mean there's also the Bill Murray connection. It's kind of a cool "circle" as a title: Bob-->Stephen Toblowsky-->Ned Ryerson-->Groundhog Day-->Bill Murray-->What About Bob?

And well... what if Bob stops being so darn Oprah-like? (yeah, I'm being sarcastic--part of the "joke" is that he's not really)

Ah well. Ain't gonna lose any sleep over this.

Radioactive Ted might agree with him though. And then there's Sylar, who wouldn't agree but does need to be stopped.

I mean, I don't trust Bob as far as I can throw him, but part of the reason he's so dangerous is that he seems to be very good at working in juuuust enough truth to make whatever else he's saying seem reasonable.

Hee! I was just coming here to say I wished the thread could be called "Bob: The White Oprah."</dinalohan>

Oh, absolutely. Him telling Mohinder to inject Monica with the virus didn't creep me out, but apologizing later for overstepping his bounds and saying how they need Mohinder to keep them in line? Cree.Pee. Even before we learned that the "Adam Monroe" who is so dangerous was working with Peter and that they're using Niki to "prevent any misunderstandings" because he knows and kind of trusts her. He is one slimy, manipulative guy.

Yeah, but what cracked me up in this episode was that he was basically talking about Monica.

Seriously? Monica? With the power to do whatever a young woman of her height and build can? The power they film not with special effects, but just by having an ordinary stunt double show up for work as usual? The power we wouldn't even know she's using if not for the writers having her say that she's always sucked at jumping rope, or never learned to play the piano, or whatever?

I thought that Bob was testing Mohinder's limits by giving him a fake virus and telling him to inject someone pretty harmless. If he had done it no questions asked then Bob could have just said that batch of virus was ineffective, no harm no foul.

Since Mohinder hadn't done it Bob knows where he draws his own personal line and how to work around it.

Oh, no I agree with all that. I just meant about Monica... Ted, Sylar yes.. What is so great about a lot of these characters is when they are "bad" its for reasons that make sense, they are grey... and I love that. I was happy HRG shot that man and I never act like that about TV, I was just glad he's saying on that line.

According to the episode commentary on Fight or Flight, Bob's full name is Robert Bishop.

I just noticed this finally showed up in my Netflix queue with a release date, Stephen Tobolowsky' s Birthday Party:
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Stephen_Tobol...56?trkid=214017

I don't know; I think Bob is genuine. We know with HRG that the Company has good intentions, even if they do questionable stuff.

And if there's any lesson that this show pushes, it's that you'd better watch it if you start walking the path of "the ends justify the means." Anyone remember Linderman's 0.07% solution? The Company may do good things and still be a force for bad in this world. I think Bob is supremely manipulative and a fantastic villain. The banal face of evil, indeed.